Apparatus for guiding oscillating continuous casting mold

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for guiding an oscillating continuous casting mold along a curved path is characterized by a pair of guide levers with one end of each linked to the mold successively in the direction of mold travel. The other, outer, ends of the guide levers are linked respectively to the ends of a pair of drive levers whose fulcrums are located between the outer ends of guide levers and the mold, and the drive levers are linked together by a connecting rod. At least one of the drive levers is connected to be driven for rocking the drive levers about their fulcrums thereby to rock the guide levers and move the mold along a curved path. At least one of the guide levers has a sliding guide.

United States Patent APPARATUS FOR GUIDING OSCILLATING CONTINUOUS CASTING MOLD 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 164/260,

74/469 Int. Cl B22d 11/02, 822d 27/08 Field of Search 164/260,

[ References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,947,075 8/1960 Schneckenburger et al. 164/76 3,343,592 9/1967 Vogel .t 164/260 Primary Examiner- Robert D. Baldwin Attorney-Sandoe, Hopgood & Calimafde ABSTRACT: Apparatus for guiding an oscillating continuous casting mold along a curved path is characterized by a pair of guide levers with one end of each linked to the mold successively in the direction of mold travel. The other, outer, ends of the guide levers are linked respectively to the ends of a pair of drive levers whose fulcrums are located between the outer ends of guide levers and the mold, and the drive levers are linked together by a connecting rod. At least one of the drive levers is connected to be driven for rocking the drive levers about their fulcrums thereby to rock the guide levers and move the mold along a curved path. At least one of the guide levers has a sliding guide.

APPARATUS FOR GUIDING OSCILLATING Y CONTINUOUS CASTING MOLD The present invention relates to an apparatus for guiding oscillating continuous casting molds which are movable along a curved path by means of guide levers.

One prior art continuous casting mold of this type has a guide lever that is pivoted in the center of curvature of the path of motion. But since the curved path of motion has a very large radius, this design calls for an appropriately large space for the guide lever, and this considerably narrows the field of application of this mold. Also known for guiding the mold along a curved path are arcuate slot guides where the mold merely requires a vertical drive. With this type of drive, however, additional space is needed below the mold, so that the rolls guiding and supporting the continuous casting are difficult to accommodate there.

A further know expedient for guiding the mold along a curved path is to link to the mold or mold table, at opposite points, two levers crossing in the manner of scissors and adapted to pivot about two stationary shafts disposed in a single plane, with the levers crossing in said manner eccentrically with respect to the distance between the two stationary shafts. Since the stationary shafts are located on opposite sides of the mold, they take up space not only in the direction of the center of the circular path of mold travel but also in the opposite direction. The driving and guiding mechanism is quite heavy, and in cases where a plurality of molds must be used, it

can be very cumbersome. Besides, this design provides sufficiently reliable guidance only when relatively short molds are used, because the points where the levers are linked to the mold or mold table are in an approximately horizontal plane. Even slight deviations of the discharge end of the mold from the projected circular path can cause considerable trouble as the strand guide and support rolls arranged downstream of the mold cannot follow the lateral position changes of the mold at all or only to a very limited extent.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for guiding oscillating continuous casting molds of the type described at the outset with which the difl'tculties outlined above are not encountered. The continuous casting mold in accordance with this invention is characterized by the fact that its guiding and driving means require very little space while the mold moves along its curved path with maximum precision.

According to the invention, this is accomplished by the use of guide levers whose guiding ends are linked to the mold successively in the direction of mold movement and whose other ends are linked to the ends of drive levers whose fulcrums are located between the guide lever connecting end of said drive levers and the mold. The other ends of said drive levers are linked together by a connecting rod, with at least one of the drive levers having a pivot drive, and with at least one of the guide levers having a sliding guide that pivots about the point of intersection between the two extreme positions of the guide lever.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of apparatus in accordance with the present invention illustrating the geometrical relationships ofits elements;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, ofa specific embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a top plan view, partly in section, ofthe apparatus shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to the diagram of FIG. I, connected to a mold (not shown in the diagram) are upper and lower link points 1 and 2 for the upper and lower guide levers 3 and 4. At least one of the two guide levers 3 and 4, preferably the lower one. is slidable in a sliding guide 5 which in turn pivots about shaft 6. The second, upper guide lever 3 may likewise be guided in a sliding guide 7 that pivots about shaft 8. At their end points 9 the connecting rod 13. Drive lever 12 has a-drive arm 14.

which branches off at the point of the drive lever fulcrum 16. The drive is actuated through the drive arm 14 by a pushrod 15 which rocks the drive levers 12 and 11 about their respective fulcrums l6 and 17. The guide levers 3 and 4 form acute angles with the drive levers 11 and 12, the angle between guide lever 3 and drive lever 11 being somewhat larger in the diagram than the angle between guide lever 4 and drive lever 12. The drive lever fulcrums 16 and 17 thus are located between the link points 1 and 2 of the guide levers 3 and 4 and their end points 9 and 10 at which they are linked to the drive levers 11 and 12.

When the apparatus is moved, by the pushrod 15, from the position indicated by solid lines into the positionindicated by broken lines, the points 9 and 10 describe circular paths about the drive lever fulcrums 17 and. 16, respectively. Since the guide levers 3 and 4 can pivot only about the shafts 8 and 6 due to the sliding guides 7 and 5, while on the other hand the distances respectively between shafts, 6 and 8 and end points 10 and 9 change as a result of the circular motion of points 10,

and 9 about the fulcrums 16 and 17, points 1 and 2 move, over circular pa'ths whose radius is several times larger than the length of the guide levers 3 and 4. Thus the desired substantial space saving is achieved.

Of particular advantage in the design according to'the invention is that additional guiding means for the mold are not required since the mold is guided along its circular path with maximum precision by the guide levers 3 and 4 which are linked to the mold successively in the direction of mold travel.

In specific embodiments of the invention, as illustrated by the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the drive levers are advantageously constructed as eccentrics to save. space. Moreover, mold guidance will be substantially improved when the guide levers are linked to the mold or mold skirt in pairs on opposite sides. The drive levers may likewise be constructed as pairs, in which case a common drive arm is suitably provided between each pair of drive levers, said arm branching off between the drive lever fulcrums. I

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is a billet mold; however, any other mold such as a slab mold could be used. The mold 18 is set into a mold skirt 19 whose walls are provided with pivot pins 20 and 21 that are linked to the guide levers 3 and 4 which are slidably guided in pivotable sliding guides 5 and 7 respectively. The guides 5 and 7 are pivotally carried respectively on shafts 6 and 8. As has been pointed out above, however, the upper pivotable sliding guide 7 and its shaft 8 may be dispensed with. Suitable bearings at thelever ends 9 and 10 mount the guide levers 3 and 4 to pivot on studs 22 and 23 which form the end points ofthe drive levers 11 and 12 and are disposed eccentrically with respect to the center points, 24 and 25 of the drive lever fulcrums 17 and 16. The drive levers are linked by the connecting rod 13. A tension spring 26 may be provided to assure the takeup of the weight by the lower lever, but since the weight of the mold itself will be effective, this tension spring may be dispensed with. The apparatus is driven by a pushrod which is pivoted to drive arm 14.

,As is apparentfrom FIG. 3 the guiding apparatus is advantageouslyconstructed so that guide levers 3 and 3', respectively at opposite sides of the mold, are disposed in a single plane, being guided in pivotable sliding guides 7 and 7', respectively, and, linked with their ends to studs 22 and 22 which are disposed eccentrically with respect to the drive lever fulcrum axis 24-24. Similarly, the guide lever 4, its,

sliding guide 5, stud 23, and drive lever fulcrum axis 25' are also duplicated on opposite sides of the mold though these elements are not seen in FIG. 3.

What I claim is:

1. An apparatus for guiding an oscillating continuous casting mold which is movable along a curved path by meansv of guide levers, characterized by a pair of guide levers (3; 4)

mounted to pivot point a of intersection between the two ex- .treme positions of said guide lever.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the pivot drive is actuated by a pushrod that is linked to a drive arm (14) of the drive lever (12).

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterized by thg fact that the drive levers (11, 12) are constructed as eccentrics.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1. characterized by the fact that the guide levers (374 are linlted iri pairs toa skirt (19) in which the mold (18) is seated.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4, characterized by the fact that the drive levers are likewise constructed as pairs and that each pair drive levers has a common drive arm (14) which branches offbetween their fulcrums. 

1. An apparatus for guiding an oscillating continuous casting mold which is movable along a curved path by means of guide levers, characterized by a pair of guide levers (3, 4) whose respective guiding ends (1, 2) are linked to the mold successively in the direction of mold travel and whose other ends are linked to the ends of drive levers (11, 12), whose fulcrums (16, 17) are located between the guide lever connecting ends (9, 10) of said drive levers and the mold, said drive levers being linked together by a connecting rod (13), with at least one of the drive levers having a pivot drive, and with at least one of said guide levers having a sliding guide (5, 7) mounted to pivot point a of intersection between the two extreme positions of said guide lever.
 2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the pivot drive is actuated by a pushrod (15) that is linked to a drive arm (14) of the drive lever (12).
 3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the drive levers (11, 12) are constructed as eccentrics. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the guide levers (3, 4) are linked in pairs to a skirt (19) in which the mold (18) is seated. An apparatus as defined in claim 4, characterized by the fact that the drive levers are likewise constructed as pairs and that each pair drive levers has a common drive arm (14) which branches off between their fulcrums. 